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TINS (Time in Nature Sundays)

st_helens_beach_picI shared my goal chart on the first “My Life as a Story” webinar and that sharing had a powerful result.

In the first module of the course I’m teaching the value of making a public declaration about your decision to “do” — that is, your decision to go ahead and strive for the goal that you have set for yourself.

Your declaration needn’t be “public” as such, but it should be made to someone who will hold you accountable for what you want to achieve.

In my case, making the declaration to the course participants on the webinar means that the course participants now get to hold me accountable in relation to my goal chart; and on that chart was a promise to take time in nature at least weekly (to “Recharge”).

So today (Sunday) I had the house to myself and I had done all the tasks that had to be done. The heat outside was blistering so I was curled on the couch with the curtains drawn to keep cool, remote in hand and Netflix on the big screen.

But as the time ticked by, the thought of the promise I had made to myself and my course participants gradually grew stronger than the excuse that it was too hot to go anywhere. I tell you what — it was touch and go getting my eyes off the screen and my ass off that seat. If I hadn’t made a public declaration of my intention, I don’t know if I would have succeeded.

And if I hadn’t packed my little bag and walked out the door I wouldn’t have found St Helens Beach (by accident!), witnessed the emergence of millions of tiny mangrove seedlings at the waters edge or met a friendly one-eared dog called “Wolf”. Bonus!

Here’s to the power of the public declaration! “Doing it” feels great and adds another notch to your goal belt!

Thank you for holding me accountable!

https://youtu.be/Qre0y3rdYsY

Walking the Talk … “Time in Nature Sundays” … I announced on the webinar that this activity was on my goal plan and here is the evidence that I am acting on my plan!

This is me acting on the “Recharge” part of the 5 “R”s (write/read/remember/reflect/recharge)

How are you going with putting a writing strategy in place and acting on it?

❤︎

My Life as a Story First Course Up & Running!

Really excited to announce that the first “My Life as a Story” group is meeting today for our first webinar: Module 1 — “Getting Started:Keeping Going”. Amazing group of women with incredible stories to tell. Such a privilege for me to be facilitating ❤︎

The more consistently you practise, the more you’ll stay connected to the deep well of love, inspiration, generosity and joy within. You’ll be able to feel and know your true path. You’ll be more deeply rooted in your heart and that will guide youth make the highest and best choices in each moment.

Marie Forleo on the practise of meditation

So Okay  — there you are in a room with the shade down and the door shut and the plug pulled out of the base of the telephone. You’ve blown up your TV and committed yourself to a thousand words a day, come hell or high water. Now comes the big question: What are you going to write about? And the equally big answer: Anything you damn well want. Anything at all … as long as you tell the truth.

Stephen King "On Writing: A memoir of the Craft"
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Procrastination: How to keep it at bay

Procrastination: The heading says “keep it at bay” rather than “beat it” because it’s not going to go away altogether. Not immediately anyway. It’s like that family member you really don’t like. He or she is always going to be family; they’re there for the long haul! But there are things you can do to minimise how much time you spend together.

It’s the same with procrastination.

Not everyone has big issues with procrastination, though according to some of the research I read a whopping 20% of the population make it their lifestyle. That’s scary.

A member of our Facebook group “Get It Done” said in a post today that she would “like to stop procrastinating as much and find a source of motivation for when I’m finding it hard to stay on track.” How many of us can relate to that?

It’s possible to put procrastination in its place and keep it there. But it does take some effort, and since effort is usually what we’re trying to avoid in the first place when we procrastinate, this seems like one big unmanageable paradox!

So what can we do about it?

The first thing we have to do if we want to put procrastination in its place is understand exactly what’s going on when we’re affected by it. There’s a great video on this that I discovered in my research on the topic; it’s short (two minutes long), simple and though it’s a bit fuzzy to look at, I think it helps to clarify what we’re dealing with when we’re tempted to avoid what we really “should” be doing, or to “put it on the end of the long finger” as the Irish say.

So without further ado, here is the video …

Video: What causes procrastination?

OK so that puts the issue in a little bit of perspective for those of us who have been battling this thing for decades without truly understanding it or worse, believing that we’re just horribly lazy. Now we just have to remember that it’s not our fault, we really can’t help it and we just have to get used to it, right?

Wrong. The good news is there is something you can do about it and even better, it only takes a few minutes daily to do it.

As I said above, I spent some time researching the topic before I started this post today. I discovered there are billions of suggestions and solutions out there on the topic of beating procrastination. It’s quite overwhelming. And also confusing.

One thing I’ve learned at Law School is that “you know when you’ve done enough research when you keep coming back to the same source”. In other words there will be a recurring “theme” that tells you that you’re on the right track.

In researching procrastination, the theme that kept recurring in the search for an answer was mindfulness meditation. There were heaps of other great themes I thought,  but the meditation theme was the one that resonated with me. Watch the three minute video below (it’s better quality than the one above) to see what I mean …

Video: Procrastination and how to control it. 

But how do I meditate? is a question I hear quite frequently. Not only that but there is sometimes great resistance to the idea of meditation based on the “no time to spare” excuse. And let’s be honest – it is an excuse.

There is a perception out there that meditation is weird, time-consuming, difficult to “do” or requires special training. Let’s bust some of these pre-conceived ideas right now. In this final video (which has the potential to change your life or at least increase you brain-power!) you’ll learn how to meditate. Yes, it’s that easy. See for yourself! …

Video: Learn to meditate now!

The only piece of advice I would add to the above video is that you don’t have to sit on the floor to practice meditation. A firm chair that allows you to keep your back straight and feet flat on the floor is absolutely fine.

Marie Forleo said “There are 1440 minutes in a day. They’ll all go better if you take 10 of them to meditate.” This is very manageable.

You can download Marie’s 10 minute meditation on here blog page here. I used it every day when I started meditating and can highly recommend it if you’re a beginner.

So there you have it. Procrastination looks different now, right?

Now go do that thing you’ve been avoiding for hours – or if your like I used to be – for most of your life.

Seona xx seona@ms50plus.com

 

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Getting Stuff Done: Need Help?

GID50plusHow frustrating is it when you reach the end of another week and haven’t got everything done that you planned to do, or even half of it? I’m finding this is happening with me all the time at the moment; between my studies and my artistic aspirations I feel like I’m not getting anywhere. So much so that I’ve decided to do something radical about it.

I’m setting up a “Get It Done” group for those of you in the same situation; feeling like nothing is getting done and you’re getting nowhere very fast! If you’re looking for moral support and practical tips on getting done what you want to do, go to Get It Done and join the group!

In addition to the FB Group I’ll also post tips here on the blog – look out for the yellow “Get It Done” pic or see under “Categories”.

You’re probably getting plenty of things done already. But maybe you find that you are managing the absolute necessities only, with no time, energy or motivation to start or continue the projects that are closest to your heart.

Hopefully, some of the strategies you find here on the blog or over at the FB group will help.

Meantime, I’m deferring my law degree for 6 months (I’m half way through it) to honour my own aspirations …

Last month the case that I brought to court against the Nurses Registration Board (re the event that ended my nursing career) finally finished, but the result didn’t satisfy my desire to have the story of the injustice heard by others, especially others who might benefit from it. So I’m committing to write a book about it. Six months probably won’t be enough time, but it will get it well off the ground and into the flow of my daily life by then I hope. With your help of course!

In leading the “Get It Done” group I will have to be accountable not only to myself, but to others in the group who rely on the support to assist them in getting their own thing done, whatever that may be; new business, creative venture or dream project.

My ultimate dream is to be in a position to provide  great quality legal advice at a greatly reduced cost to women who have experienced personal  injustice or adversity. So I will need to have another income stream under my belt to subsidise my legal venture. The book (and it’s sibling project) will be of help in that respect.

You need to have an “ultimate dream” of your own that you can see and believe in so that you can act on it.

This TEDx talk will get you started.

Seona xx